Through the Forest
by Goomba Fortress
Summary: Captain Amelia experiences loss, The Doctor is at a loss, and Jim is recovering from a loss. The three must work together in a hostile situation and come out the other end, somehow. Part of my "Through the Forest" series and comes after "Acquaintanceship"
1. Chapter 1

**I know, I know! I shouldn't be starting another project with one waiting in the wings. I'm a terrible person. I will take care of you guys, I promise. "The Gardener" will be updated soon. I just noticed that this needed to be sorely re-written, revamped, redone, re everything honestly. The old version is old, uninteresting, and unintelligible in certain parts. I owe you guys more than that.**

**Please accept this meager first chapter as my way of apologizing for the lackluster standard that I have perpetuated. **

Amelia takes a deep breath inside her stateroom once the door is fully closed behind her. The sound the latching mechanism makes is wholly unique in that moment of tumultuous silence. It's a metallic whirring inside the casing, and she would give anything right now to only hear that one sound.

Her heart is thumping inside her chest and she can hear her own breath hitch and flow in waves as she fights off the emotions that she knows are coming. Breathing around the sobs isn't easy and she clutches his hat to her chest, heaving with quiet grief.

The chaos that the supernova had turned her stateroom into sorely needs to be addressed, but she can't be bothered with the sweeping or the sorting, or any other banal, arbitrary thing.

A man is dead.

He isn't just a man. Arrow was a fine, stand up gentleman, worthy of so much more than his lot in life. Arrow isn't just a casualty of someones waylaid dream, Arrow was a friend.

Was. The word speaks volumes in only a single syllable.

In the aftermath of a beautiful natural event, there had been only one casualty.

That black hole could have taken the midshipman, the helmsman or any of the other uncooperative souls aboard and no one would have taken notice. Instead, she is missing her first officer, and her best friend.

Remembering the hat she still had clutched in her hands, she brings it to her nose and sniffs at it tentatively. Chester's essence is all over this hat in it's smartly groomed corners and gold trim. His hat had been a gift, from someone very special she was told. Tailored by the finest quartermaster in the quadrant, Arrow had received it along with his own commission after the wars. But he turned it down initially, in favor of an early retirement from the Imperial Navy with his best friend, serving on the ship that had reunited them. The hat, of course had been given to him later as a formality. No one else could suitably wear it.

They had a good run together, and in the span of Amelia's life, she supposes that it's fitting she lose him. He was important, she relied on him. Of course he left her.

No, no it's not his fault. Amelia battles with her irrationalities as she sets the hat on the edge of the desk. It was that damn cabin boy, and there wasn't any amount of convincing by the young Mister Hawkins that would sway her. She had given him a job, and easy enough as it was, he had managed to muddle it so completely that the only person on this damn ship she needed, she lost.

Twenty four. Amelia is twenty four and grieving the loss of her only friend.

A knock at the door behind her back brings her out of her reverie and she walks away from the door. "Please, whoever it is just leave. I don't wish to be disturbed." Amelia sets his hat on her desk, perching herself on the edge.

Much to her disdain, the door opens anyway and Doctor Doppler shuffles in, careful to shut the door behind him. "I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, Captain." Doppler crosses the room, his feet crunching on the spare bits of glass that litter the floor in a broken mosaic.

"No, I don't want to see anyone. Now please," She gestures to the door with her left hand, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her right. "I need to be alone, Doctor." Her eyes close and she hears him putter out the door, shutting it on his way out without another word.

Had these been different circumstances, Arrow would be pouring brandy from the carefully concealed mini bar inside the globe, toasting to their success. He might have said something on the unusual nature of the winds, how they were different. How he would remember this one for a long time indeed.

Shedding her uniform into an unkempt heap, Amelia climbs into her bunk, a mess of shaking limbs and heaving gasps. Falling back on baser instincts, she closes her eyes and thinks of happier times.

Dawn comes in heavy thorough the atmosphere around the ship and Amelia squints into the artificial light with sore eyes. Through the holes in her glass windows, she can hear that life has indeed gone on outside on the deck of the ship, and Amelia despises it.

Her old uniform is set aside for her to launder later and a fresh one is pulled from her cabinets after a quick shower. The shower, however hot it was, was not enough to soothe the ache inside her.

Amelia pulls on her tan pants and black undershirt quickly, warding off the unusually cool temperature in her stateroom. A hand towel is scrubbed quickly over her calico skin to dry herself off before being hung to dry in her tiny bathroom.

Meticulously, she applies her makeup, covering splotchy eyes and uneven skin tone. Ideally, usually, it's just a quick swipe of mascara and eyeshadow and a quick smattering of tinted balm to protect her lips from chapping. Today, she looks awful. Red, splotchy eyes poke out from dark circles stark on unusually pale skin.

Just as she is reaching for her lip balm, a knock at her door brings her out of the tiny bathroom. "Enter,"

Doppler shuffles into the room, laden with two steaming mugs of coffee and all his usual gear. "Ca- Captain! You ah. You seem to be missing something." Doppler hides his face behind the mugs, waiting until she disappears into the other room. Doppler had seen the black tank top that had left very little to his roaming imagination, and he could feel the blush working up his cheeks.

"Hm. What's wrong, Doctor. Never seen a woman before?" Amelia's tone is low, and mocking as she waltzes back into the bathroom to finish her routine.

"No, I assure you, it's not that." The coffee is set on the table and Amelia can hear the Doctor shuffling around the charts on the table.

"Fascinating," It's hummed under her breath, almost like an after thought as she tucks in her long sleeve shirt.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Her footsteps crunch as she walks back into the main area, pulling on her jacket.

"Oh, nothing." Before Delbert can see what she is doing, he hears a quick snap as she turns a picture frame on it's front and he can only assume it's a photo of her now late first officer.

"You know, if you need to talk to anyone." It's probably the worst idea he has had yet to mention this before she has had her coffee, but he is rewarded with only a sharp glance that he has rather gotten used to.

"Suppose not, then." Doppler buries himself in his charts, taking out the compass to chart the distances on the worn parchments pausing only to sip from his coffee.

She is pacing now, through the shards of glass and the chaos that still litters the floor of her stateroom. Doppler can only guess at the emotions building under the surface until he watches her pick the picture frame up. Something foreign flickers in her eyes before her gaze goes hard and she smashes the glass frame against the wall. The cry that escapes her is something that Delbert remembers hearing a lifetime ago and he bolts from his chair, catching her around the waist. The glass joins the mosaic of swirled window panes on the floor and the photo lands face down.

"How dare he leave me like this?" She breaks from his grasp, taking deep breaths and kicking at the debris on the floor.

Doppler doesn't have an answer for her, and he stands in the middle of the chaos he had miraculously not tripped over thus far.

"I'm done. After this, I'm finished." Amelia sits in her desk chair, her thumb and forefinger going to the bridge of her nose.

"Finished?" Doppler stands behind her, his hands working on her neck much as he had so many nights ago.

"I cannot possibly continue without him. That crew is, bloodthirsty."

From outside, the crew has started up something fierce and she stands up, looking out her shattered window panes. Sure enough, if she cranes her head out far enough to the side, she can see the planet's famed green rings and lonely meteor belt.

"Imagine that, Doctor. We're there."

Almost on cue, Jim bursts into the room, throwing the lock behind him. A look of panic is evident on his face and it takes Amelia only seconds to discover what has happened on deck.

"They're- its!"

The look of anger that crosses her face is fierce and she leaps over the desk and towards the locked cabinet on the other side of the room.

"Pirates on my ship, I'll see they all hang." Venom drips from words out of gritted teeth and she tosses a pistol towards the Doctor. "Doctor, are you familiar with these?"

Behind her, the Doctor fiddles with the gun before misfiring into her celestial clock, destroying the brass and glass fixture with a sheepish smile. "Ah no. No, no I'm not."

Rolling her eyes briefly, Amelia reaches for the brass map nestled inside the velvet box and tosses it towards Hawkins.

"Mister Hawkins, defend this with your life!"

Looking up from loading her rifle, she finds the lock on her door has started to spark and heat up, a sign of manipulation from the other side. They needed a way out, now. She could climb out of those windows and do something on deck to stifle the rebellion. But that would leave the Doctor and Jim behind, and on their best of days they didn't stand a chance.

Well, Jim might be able to reason with the brutes, he had been spending an awful lot of time around the crew. But Doppler, for all his knowledge about the stars, and for all his good intentions would be no match for a gang of mutinous pirates.

Surrounded by pirates and out in the middle of nowhere, there was scant little she could think of. The shipping lanes ended days ago and at their highest speed on a scout ship, she could not reach them before they ran out of supplies.

The scout ships! Of course, it's just harebrained enough to work.

"Stand clear!" Amelia takes aim at the floorboard, her finger curling around the trigger before squeezing and blasting a hole through to the passageways crisscrossing below her rooms.

The hole would be just big enough to fit even the Doctor through and after taking a quick look around her room, she jumps into the hole. "Step lightly now!"

Jim and the Doctor struggle to keep up with the Captain's long legs and it isn't until they reach the docking bay that they realize what they are doing, and how very out of options thy are.

"To the longboats quickly!" Her voice sings in the bay after she burns the lock on the doors, tossing the rifle into the first available boat. The stubborn lever to control the hatch is finally operable and underneath them the atmosphere of the planet begins rushing in.

In what seems like seconds, Jim has jumped towards the boat, which once clearing the docking bay enters a free fall.

Activating the ship takes all of seconds and the sail bursts to life, stopping the falling but aleviating none of the threat of the plasma cannons charging from the ship.

"Parameters met, hydraulics engaged..." She is talking more to herself at this point, it's been ages since she has piloted one of the scout ships and she can scant remember how to do it properly. But under duress is when she performs the best, so she has no real concerns until the Doctor shouts something unintelligible and covers his head.

It's a white, hot sear that takes out the sail and most of the rudder, leaving a skeletal tiller in the hands of a Captain who has reached her end.

With nothing to steer with, she jerks the tiller to the left, hoping to miss some of the larger pieces of foliage now coming dangerously close to the life boat. They manage to miss most of them, until they rip through the center of a large green spore, sending moss and discarded vegetation spewing into the lower canopy of the dense jungle.

After the bow snags on a vine, the boat tilts before slamming into the jungle floor face down, skidding until it comes to a complete halt in the now silent forest.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here's chapter 2 of my reconstructed "Through The Forest" story. Bonus points to whomever can spot the Star Trek reference. As always, reviews make me a very happy author. **

**Enjoy!**

The smoke clears slowly from the wreckage of the once flyable longboat, and after a long minute, the hull is borne up by a strong arm. Alien light drifts lazily into the crack between the ground and the scorched lip of the boat and for a moment, the silence is nearly deafening.

"Ow," Jim rubs his neck as he climbs out from under the longboat, freeing the Captain and the Doctor from their uncomfortable looking crouch on the ground. Thick rubber soles clunk against dirt and loose rocks as they gain purchase on ground that no longer seems to be shifting beneath him.

"Oh, goodness." Delbert adjusts his glasses, getting to his feet slowly in the small clearing. "That was more fun than I ever want to have again." Bits of dirt and decaying plant cling to the ever present static charge on his signature smoking jacket and he brushes them off with quick strokes. The jacket had been a gift from his late wife, and though far removed from the trauma of her sudden death, Delbert couldn't part with it. In no way was the jacket practical with it's velvet lapels and satin sash, but it suited him now.

"_Abagail, I don't smoke. What am I supposed to do with this?" Delbert holds the sash up and lets it slink through his fingers. He's never owned anything like this, and to be honest, he doesn't feel like it fits him. The shoulders are too snug, and the cut is all wrong. It fits more like a bathrobe than a jacket, and the rich burgundy clashes with his tan and white wardrobe. _

_Abagail chuckles, straightening the collar with nimble fingers. "Wear it, silly. It looks good on you." _

_He would find later on that the breast pocket was perfect for a few fountain pens, and that the flowing sleeves kept his abnormally thin wrists perfectly warm. The velvet lapels and collar aren't as tacky and unpractical as he thought, now that he's spent countless nights in his observatory hunched over star charts. Abagail had thought of everything when she had selected this for him. _

_It wasn't until much later at the impromptu funeral that he discovered something odd. He had been sitting in a pew at the front, with Sarah and young Jim at his side, his coat slung over his knee. It was when his eyes were buried in his lap, trying to pretend that he wasn't burying his childhood friend and wife that he spied some irregular stitching underneath the collar. Upon further inspection, it is in her very hand that the words _with love_ are stitched into the bottom of the collar. _

_It all clicks in Delbert's head like a switch that had been flipped. It wasn't some weird jacket she picked up at a curio; it was the culmination of a long, and happy relationship, and now the only thing he has left of her strongest memories._

_He keeps wearing the coat. The idea of putting it in mothballs was far too painful to deal with. _

Delbert is drawn out of his mind when a rustling beside his feet alerts him to the Captain.

The Captain chuckles, as if remembering a previous adventure, and gets to her feet slowly. Straightening out her wrinkled jacket, she addresses the situation. "That wasn't one of my-" She pauses, her throat constricting. Agony blooms in her sternum and she blocks it out, gritting her teeth. "gossamer landings." Her head tilts back into the sunshine, back ram rod straight as she fights to control herself. It lasts only a moment before she is on her knees, one arm around her midsection and the other bracing herself against the mossy ground.

"Captain!" Amelia doesn't hear the Doctor's cry of surprise over the sound of her blood pumping in her ears, and doesn't feel his hands on her arm and back until she is back on her feet, tentative though it is.

"Oh, don't fuss." Another stab pushes her back and she falls into the Doctor's chest, the jungle pitching around her. Pushing herself off, she regains her balance with a groan. The Doctor's hand is on her arm, and she pulls away abruptly, attempting to toss a scathing look over her shoulder.

"Slight bruising, that's all. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain." Delbert is concerned, but he knows better than to voice his thoughts in her presence. So, the bookish astronomer stays quiet.

"Mister Hawkins." Through the pain induced haze, Amelia has set her sights on the Doctor and she shakes her head, blinking to clear her sight.

"The map, if you please." Does her voice usually sound this rough? It's a lilting, low thing biting out of drawn lips and gnashing teeth; foreign sounding. Nothing feels quite right anymore. The swishing in her inner ear is drowned out by the screeching, tightening pain in her chest. Hiding a clenched fist behind her back, she fights to control her breathing. Shallow puffs of air fill her aching lungs, and Amelia can already feel hypoxia setting in as her head spins.

The fishbowl of color around her shifts again, a coral colored mass zooms around a brunette head and she lets her eyes slip closed for a moment to restore the natural order of things. A longboat engine above her brings her back to the moment and she ducks beneath she shored longboat.

"Stifle that blob, and get low. We've got company." Leaning on the rifle more than she should be, she ducks beneath the longboat, eyes peering at the sky. The smoke from the rudder explosion has cleared, but the path the longboat left through the top of the jungle canopy was easy to spot.

Above them, in an avian-less sky, a familiar long boat patrols the sky. Silver is low on crew members, and only two aliens occupy the vessel. And as soon as the white boat cut the wild blue sky, it leaves, it's own trail of opaque smoke billowing in a light breeze. How the two men in the boat missed the path they had burned into the jungle, she would never know.

Pursing her lips, she straightens up and faces the group. "We need a more defensible position." It was clear. If the pirates found them huddled beneath a burned out boat, they didn't stand a chance.

Glancing between her two companions, the young Captain racks her brain for any possible solution. The Doctor wouldn't be able to traipse the jungle; there were tree roots jutting from the dirt, and vines hanging everywhere. The whole thing was an accident waiting to happen. As much as Amelia hated to admit it, even to herself, she couldn't do it. The Captain was barely up on two feet, and there was no telling how long her strength would hold up.

Jim would have to go, it only made sense. "Mister Hawkins," she turns toward him, holding out the pistol she had snagged from her weapons locker. "Scout ahead."

The teen seems apprehensive of the offer of freedom, and a firearm; but takes them both with a respectable "Aye, Captain!"

No sooner than the gun leaves her hand, another white hot band of angry, pulsing pain seizes her and she sinks to the ground. "Steady, steady" The Doctor's arms seem to have been waiting for her to collapse again, and he cushions her fall in a moment of steadiness.

"Now, lets have a look at that." Delbert sets about unfastening her waistcoat, and much to his surprise, she doesn't protest- much.

"It's fine, really Doctor. There's no need to worry yourself." Amelia's voice sounds strange, like it's coming through a long tunnel. Blinking sluggishly, her head lolls back against the side of the ship.

Delbert doesn't seem to be convinced, and he coaxes her arms out of the sleeves slowly. The right arm comes out well enough, but when Delbert's hand happens upon her left side, she bites back a cry of pain, her eyes slamming shut.

"What was that, about not needing to worry myself?" It's spoken in deadpan, and Delbert thinks he's gotten away with it, until an angry green eye makes him think otherwise.

"Fine, have it your way." Amelia sits up, bracing herself on the ground with her right arm. "If you intend to patch me up, there should be a medical kit strapped to the floor of the lifeboat."

After a moment underneath the shored boat, Delbert makes a noise of discovery, followed by struggle. "I can't get the strap loose."

"For God's sakes..." Amelia mutters angrily under her breath before reaching into her boot and grabbing the knife from her leg holster. "Then cut it loose." Her combat knife is held in the air for a moment before being plucked from her hand with bumbling fingers. If these were ordinary circumstances, she would question the sanity of handing a clumsy man a knife; but these were far from ordinary circumstances.

Delbert re-emerges by her side with a white medical kit in his hand. A good portion of it had been singed by the explosion, and there was a clean white band through the middle where the strap had been. But upon inspecting the contents, he found everything he might need to treat her injury.

"This will do nicely." Delbert hummed under his breath as he plucked out a phial of morphine. Holding it out at eye level, the clear liquid completely filled the tiny glass bauble and he very nearly dropped it when he saw a pair of angry green eyes distorted through the glass.

"If you think you are going to dose me with that, you are very, very wrong." Not that she would need it at this point, the screeching, throbbing pain residing in her ribcage has not lessened, and with every shallow breath, she feels lighter and lighter.

Before she can protest otherwise, Delbert quickly pockets the morphine and the other pain relievers before returning to his previous spot beside her.

"Captain- I, uh. I need to lift your shirt." Delbert tugs at his cravat nervously, his face turning several shades of red, before she nods feebly.

Her permission to lift her shirt, however earnest it may have been, did not make the task any easier for the blushing widower. He had already seen what waited underneath- once. Peeling off her crème colored sweater, his hands brush against the black lace, and he imagines he couldn't be any redder if he tried.

"Quit peeping, Doctor. Between this morning and now, you've had your fill, now move on." Her voice is joking, but he can't help but feel a little bit more embarrassed. Soldiering on, he carefully slides the lace and silk top up her midsection to reveal already bruising calico skin.

"Now, where is the pain most severe."

"My shoulder, the left one. And a good portion of my ribs." She shifts on the ground, her right hand clenching in the dirt.

Delbert balked internally as his fingers brushed up against her bare, smooth skin. Barely able to keep track of his errant thoughts, his eyes narrowed as he tried to navigate his mind back to the task at hand. He shouldn't be thinking about her creamy skin, how it might feel beneath the satiny sheets on his bed, or how her dark eyes would glitter with passion.

Gritting his own teeth, his fingers continue up her ribcage until he finds a tender spot, and an odd sound escapes from the Captain's tight lips.

"-Just there, Doctor." It's a strangled sound, and Delbert knows better than to address the tears that are now working their way down her face.

"Just a moment, then. I think I'm going to need you to lean forward." Kneeling around her legs, he pulls her head to his shoulder and it isn't until he is halfway through wrapping her ribs that he realizes just how close they are. Heady overtones of grapefruit are enhanced by mint and another element that he cannot identify and he is almost grateful to clip the bandage in place and set her back against the boat.

Once again in possession of his faculties, he takes in the situation around him. It's only at this time that it strikes Delbert as odd that there is a distinct lack of animal life anywhere. The rustling of the trees is only caused by the occasional errant wind, and the plant life around him seems, not like it should. The whole area doesn't seem quite right.

"Being distracted like that is going to get us killed." Amelia's rough voice alerts him to her still ailing condition and he pulls her shirt back down.

"I'm not cut out for this, I'm sorry." Noticing her right arm cradling the left, he rummages around in the kit and finds a white sling, still in the packaging.

"Let you in on a little secret, Doctor. No one is ever cut out for this." Her tone is different now, nearly delirious in nature as her head lolls towards him.

"You don't train for these kinds of situations?" Deftly, and nearly without her notice, the sling goes around her neck and loops under her injured arm and Delbert thinks he is getting better at this already.

"Hardly. The Interstellar Navy teaches a brief seminar on hostile situations, but they always told us that combat was the best teacher. How very right they were." Amelia doesn't elaborate any further, and Delbert isn't dense enough to ask her to.

"Surely the Interstellar Navy isn't the only army out there." Delbert gets to his feet in the clearing, his finger dancing across the tip of the bayonet.

Amelia chuckles, sitting up against the hull. "Across the galaxy, a few million parsecs out, there is another organization of sorts. But they stress that they are purely exploration, and not suited for war." She pauses, and her eyes go to the far tree line. Beyond the thick jungle, a tan blob, accompanied by a second tanish green blob emerge from the shadows and Amelia slacks against the boat.

"Jim, who's your friend?"

"This is Ben. Ben has a house a few miles away that he's willing to let us use."

"Miles?" Amelia gets to her feet slowly, bracing herself on the boat. "Can we trust this, Ben?"

"Well, ma'am. Aside from the plants, he is the only other thing I've seen here alive. Where else do you expect to find help?"

Gnashing her teeth together, she looks to the Doctor. "We had best be off then, before we loose the light." Amelia reaches for the rifle, and before her clawed fingers can get to it, Delbert swiftly tosses it to Jim.

"Jim, I think it would be best if you led the way."

Anger flashes in the young captain's eyes and she would have carried it further, had not another flare up silenced her into submission. Looking around the clearing one final time, Amelia finds herself caught off guard when she feels the Doctor's arm wrap around her shoulders carefully.

"Doctor, what on earth are you doing?" She finds herself up, off the ground in a moment and cradled in his arms.

"Don't tell me you planned on trying to walk there on your own strength." His tone is nearly mocking, and she knows she deserves it.

"I had, yes. Until you decided to play the part of the dashing knight."

"Yes, well. It's either this, or we stay here the night and wait for them to find us."

Jim, having listened to the whole thing, taps his foot impatiently. "We need to move, sometime before the sun sets, hopefully."

Delbert nods, decisively, and the unlikely group sets off to shelter on the unknown planet.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Another chapter! I feel so accomplished! Enjoy, readers!**

**Oh yeah. There's drug use here, so uh, be informed and all. **

They've been walking for what seems like hours, but Delbert knows that rationally, they have only been walking for maybe thirty minutes. It's a wet kind of heat at the bottom of the jungle, but there isn't any water on the planet to speak of. No water should mean no growth, no vegetation. But the rules here are totally different, divergent from anywhere else that he has ever been.

He knows of a certain kind of moss that can enter suspended animation, should it run out of water. But that was clearly not the case here. The jungle was churning with life where none should exist. The implications were astounding to the scientist in Delbert, and he wishes he was here under better circumstances.

At one point, he was sure that one of the plants tried to eat him. It was a large and looming, though beautiful flower, langouring underneath the shade of a dying tree. Large, nearly monstrous petals sit at odd intervals on a stalk growing among a tiny patch of black mushrooms. It was an odd scene, one that Delbert wouldn't soon forget.

Initially, Delbert was enamored with it's large vermillion petals and creamy white center. It didn't strike him at all as odd when the petals snapped together like a large pair of teeth, though in retrospect it very well should have.

"Uh, Doc?" Jim's questioning tone was unheeded as Delbert drew closer to the plant.

"Stay away from it, Doctor. It's-" The Captain's words die in her mouth as the great crimson mouth lurches forward before snapping closed just inches away from the Doctor's nose.

"Gaah!" Delbert stumbles back, trying to stay steady with the Captain still in his arms.

"-Carnivorous." It's a deadpan snark, and Delbert sets his lips in a thin line against the remark.

"Well now that's odd, it's never tried to eat me before!" Ben exclaims, taking a few steps forward. Three sets of eyes roll in the robot's direction before the group takes a collective step away from the large plant.

"So, does this mean that other plants here are alive as well?" Jim looks around at the otherwise still forest with a doubting look on his face.

Amelia nods, her head craned to look up through the canopy of the trees. "There aren't any other forms of life here. Perhaps the plant life is the animal life as well." A glance is tossed in Ben's direction before she settles back into the crook of the Doctor's arm.

"I had noticed that as well. Perhaps it's one giant organism, like a swamp?" The group moves through the dense hanging moss, dodging tree branches and oddly swinging vines. "The implications of how life evolved on this planet are astounding, to say the least." The usually demure doctor is fully in his element in this alien environment, and his curiosity is running laps in his head.

Amelia looks up at the Doctor through new eyes. "I didn't know you were an ecologist as well, Doctor."

"Oh," He bends down underneath a thorny looking branch, "I study life. Cosmology, astronomy, ecology. All very fascinating views into life, and the meaning of."

Amelia chuckles, fingering the sling. "But you aren't a medical doctor."

"Ah, no. No, no I'm not." It's a throwback to a previous conversation about his other mental capacities, and she grins.

"My my, but you are charming. In a bumbling, impotent sort of way." Amelia's finger slides along his jaw slowly before dipping into the column of his throat.

"That's a wonderful way to thank me." He knows he's grousing, but he is more than a little upset that she isn't just a little bit grateful.

"It was your idea! I was perfectly happy to leave it all alone, but you had to be the hero." If she could cross her arms right now, she would. A scowl in his general direction would have to suffice though.

Delbert stops. He knows he did the right thing. No sane person would have left anyone behind. "Give me one reason why I should have left you there." Delbert steps through a patch of mushroom like growth, keeping his pace brisk to keep up with the unencumbered Ben and Jim.

"I will only slow us down."

Delbert laughs, an empty maniacal sound. "You would have survived, if only to nag me about it later, should I have left you behind."

Amelia coughs, convulsing against the sharp pain in her chest. "That does sound like me." Her voice is low, and Delbert can tell that she will be in need of the morphine he had pocketed earlier.

"If you're in pain, I have something I can give you."

Amelia's eyes roll to the back of her head just before her lids close. He can tell from her rapid breathing that he is going to need to do something about it soon. White as a sheet, Amelia presses her face into his vest for a moment, burying her nose in the fabric before pulling away.

"No-" more heavy breathing, then she just stops. Her jaw slacks against his coat and her head sinks down to her chest. Although her breathing evened out finally, her unresponsiveness to his whispered calls worry him. Up ahead, Jim must have heard because he stops, turning on his toes.

"Is- Is she okay?"

Delbert just gives him a questioning look. "The pain must have knocked her out. I have something I can give her though, to ease it."

Jim smiles, gesturing to a large rock covered by a bed of moss. "You'd better dose her now before she wakes up."

Delbert sets the unconscious Captain down, and to his great surprise, she doesn't stir. "I suppose I could, but I don't know the first thing about this stuff."

"Just hand it here, Doc." Jim takes the bottle of morphine and the syringe that the Doctor hands him and he peers at the clear liquid with wide eyes and a large grin.

Then, with practiced hands, he pulls her arm out and rolls up the sleeve. Finding a vein is easy enough and he pulls a little morphine from the bottle.

Delbert looks on nervously, waiting for her to awaken at any moment. As Jim taps the syringe with his fingernail, he pushes the plunger once. "Where did you learn this?"

Jim looks at Delbert, his brows knit together with worry. "Don't tell my mom, okay? She would kill me if she found out."

"You aren't anymore, are you?" Delbert stands over him, studying his methods closely. She would most likely need more again, and he doubted she wanted Jim to do it.

Jim shakes his head, plunging the needle into the Captain's smooth skin. "No, I quit."

"That's good, Jimmy! Drugs are bad! I had a buddy once who overdosed on electricity once, never did get his body peeled off of the roof." Ben doesn't elaborate any further, and no one asks any questions.

Jim pulls the needle out, inspecting it for a minute before rummaging around in his pockets. "Where did I leave that thing..."

"Whatcha need, Jimmy?" Ben is suddenly everywhere at once with his long, dirty arms and loud voice and Jim flinches against the unwanted intrusion.

Jim studies the robot intently for a moment before an idea forms in his head. "Ben, you got a light?"

"We just had this conversation! You know, about drugs being bad?" The robot's tone is condescending and Jim, not for the first time that day, rolls his eyes.

"I just need to clean the needle. We'll need to use it again."

Ben, being a rather naive and trusting robot, uncaps his index finger and a blue flame erupts from the digit. "Oh, well then. If that's all."

The needle is sterilized quickly, and the flame extinguished after only a moment. "Now, we need to find that house of yours, Ben."

Delbert doesn't miss the way Jim pockets the syringe after he gets to his feet, but chooses to say nothing about it.

As if suddenly being reminded of something important, Ben's eyes go wide before he sets off into the dense undergrowth. "It's just this way. Watch your heads!"

With Amelia once again in his arms, the unlikely group journeys further into the jungle.

After a long trek, Delbert can see the canopy start to get thinner before disappearing all together before a sweeping, grassy plain. For the first time since the crash site, Delbert can clearly see the yellow halcyon sun in the sky, and the curious lack of rainfall, even with adequate cloud cover. It's a lovely, bucolic like setting, one that he had only seen in paintings.

The clouds are something else too, like everything else on this planet. White cloudy things speed across a wild blue sky at a near breakneck speed. This wasn't natural, none of this was. It couldn't be.

"It's around here somewhere..." Ben disappears into the tall grass, leaving the intrepid explorers behind.

Amelia's eyes open slowly, and her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth. She's being carried by someone, that much she is able to work out. When she thinks about it more, their scent is familiar. Notes of brandy and parchment wash over her, but it's invaded with foreign hints of spanish moss and buckwheat. Where was she? Amelia was sure she knew before, but now her brain just won't put the pieces together.

"What did you give me?" The question is succinct, and lacks nothing of the delicate precision that Delbert has become accustomed to.

"Me? Not a thing." Delbert answers honestly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Coarse dirt is kicked up from the dry ground and Delbert is caught off guard not for the first time that morning.

"I'm high." Amelia's eyes are an unfocussed glaze as her eyelids blink separately.

"You p-p-p passed out earlier. We figured it was as good a time as any." Delbert's sweating, and he wonders to himself when it had gotten hotter.

Recognition dawns on her face and she sinks into his arms. "Where are we now?"

Delbert chuckles, shifting her weight in his arms slightly. "A grassy area. Ben says it's only a little bit farther." Delbert furrows his brows. He had been saying that for what seemed like hours now, and though the terrain had changed, it didn't seem like they were getting any closer.

Up ahead, the robot stops. His mechanical head whirrs around in the bright sun before the rest of his body jumps around. "I think I made a wrong turn," Ben's fingers dig at the hole in the back of his head as his green glowing eyes pixelate in an embarrassed manner. "I just can't remember where that place is. You'd think, as long as I've lived there..." he trails off, laughing to ease the tension.

"Wrong turn? We don't have time for this, Ben. They're gonna find us if we don't find somewhere to hide."

Amelia sits up slowly in Delbert's arms, her teeth gritting against the effort. "We can't stay in the open." Her brow wrinkles and her breath hitches inside her throat. Amelia can feel her heart beating against broken bones and each throb is more painful than the last. "Get moving."

"And where do you suggest we go? There's nothing here, ma'am."

Delbert's eyes wander over the horizon before stumbling on a large structure in the distance, jutting out from the ground. "Nothing besides that."

The group turns their eyes and Ben lets out a sound of excitement. "You found it! Lets go!"

As they journey towards their destination, Delbert remembers the one curious part about his morning which was yet unexplained.

"Why black lace?" His brow quirks and his head dips toward hers to hear her whispered words.

Upon grinning, red lips, her answer is completely out of left field. "It makes me feel confident."

Delbert's lips purse themselves in an 'oh' sound and he doesn't quite know what to say. With his imagination running away with him, he clears his throat and concentrates on not tripping over himself. It should be easy to not trip all over himself, but it isn't. Nothing is easy around this woman, and it's getting less so by the minute.

Just when he thinks that he can't take any more of her, she makes a curious noise. It's a low, keening melody and it isn't until she starts quietly singing that he can place the music.

"Moon river, wider than a mile." Her eyes are closed, and a happy smile has replaced her normally stern demeanor. Delbert wasn't expecting a mellifluous voice to erupt from her at a time like this, he supposes it's probably the morphine. "I'm crossing you in style, some day." She stops, her arm clenching around her ribs.

Delbert hasn't sang in years, and when he opens his mouth, he isn't even sure where the words are coming from. "Oh dream maker, you heart breaker. Wherever you're going, I'm going your way." It's quiet, and he isn't even sure that she hears him until her ears perk in satisfaction.

"You have a lovely voice, Doctor."

"Lots of forced choir lessons as a kid finally payed off." It's meant to be said under his breath, but she smiles, her fingers splaying on her face.

"Choir lessons? I never would have guessed."

"Oh, it was every kind of terrible that you could possibly imagine. I remember trying to hide behind a rack of music stands my first day there." Delbert chuckles as he remembers his way into his own childhood. The rack of stands was just big enough that if he bent his knees, he couldn't be seen behind the large black barrier.

"I imagine someone eventually found you?"

Delbert blushes, laughing. "No. I stayed there until my mom came to get me. No one even noticed that I was gone until she found me crouched behind the rack crying."

The image of a young, awkward Delbert Doppler being consoled by his mother makes Amelia's eyes light in amusement.

"That's adorable." Amelia settles into his chest contentedly, her eyes roaming the vast landscape. Amelia can see for miles in the wheat field, and she can't remember the last time she had felt this relaxed. Combined with a light breeze, and the warm sun, Amelia can almost forget about the white hot sear in her chest.

Amelia's arm snags a large poppy and she brings it up to her face, fingering the efflorescent petals. Fragrant and beautiful, it entrances her with it's indigo center. It's a beautiful splash of color amidst a sea of golden wheat and when it slides out of her fingers, she is only a little bit upset. But much to the surprise of the both of them, the poppy re-grows back into the vine instantly, it's vermilion bloom looking none the worse for the wear.

"Did you see that?"

"The poppy? That was odd. I hope we get to come back to study the planet. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

A sudden jolt of pain shoots through her side, and in the sudden absence of the morphine, she lets out the smallest of moans.

"Did the medicine wear off?"

Amelia bites down on her lip, a low whimpering escaping her throat. She looks so small in his arms, and Delbert feels so helpless about the whole situation.

"We're almost there. It's not much farther." He's telling the truth, he can see a set of stairs leading up to a gaping opening, dripping with spanish moss.

Delbert climbs the stairs smoothly, and when he steps into the large, cavernous area, he feels just a little bit overwhelmed by the sad state of the place.

He supposes that he is the last person to criticise living situations, his study isn't much better looking.

"I find old fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" Ben disappears around a white curtain as Delbert sets the Captain down on the ground gently, his hand lingering on the back of her head.

"How about drinks for the happy couple?" Ben reemerges from the partition with flower pots, filled to the brim with motor oil and garnished with cog pieces. It looked caustic, and Delbert tries to be diplomatic about his response.

"Uh, no. Thank you we don't drink. And uh, and uh. We're not a couple." He looks down to her to find an approving smile on her face.

"Look at these markings, they're identical to the ones on the map. They could be the remnants of an ancient culture."

Below him, Amelia leans forward, bracing herself on the ground. "Mister Hawkins, stop anyone who tries to approach- ooh." Amelia's command is cut off by another tightening in her chest and she gasps, falling back.

"Yes yes, now you listen to me." Delbert's folded his coat up behind her head and he eases her back into it gently, his hand restraining her lightly. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds, and lie still." Delbert works on keeping a stern face, and he is awarded by a delirious smile.

"Very forceful, Doctor. Go on, say something else." Emerald eyes regard him kindly and Delbert would later look back on this incident and recall it was the first time he didn't feel so vastly inferior to her.

Gunfire erupts into the tiny area and Amelia's eyes dart over to the opening as Jim tries to defend an army of pirates with a single rifle.

Delbert is brought back to the situation. He doesn't have the upper hand in any kind of capacity. Chances are, they won't make it out of this alive, and as he looks on at the unfolding hostile situation, he feels totally useless.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: An update for you all! Wow, I'm on a roll! Almost done with this one, I think I have one chapter left on the rewrite, which shouldn't take long to finish. But, I say things like this frequently. So I guess we will just have to wait and see. **

**I feel like the quality of this one is kind of down compared to my other stuff, but I also feel that the update is better made now, rather than later. **

**In either case, enjoy! Oh, and there is uh- adult themes in this one too. Be warned. **

Delbert watches Jim disappear through the gaping front entrance with curious eyes. It was obvious that talking would do little good, and the white flag flown by Silver was a delay tactic. But, it's not like their situation could get any worse. Severely outgunned and surrounded by the pirates, there was very little it seemed he could do.

"I hope he went down there armed." The Captain sits up against the dome he had laid her against, her ears perking up to keep tabs on the conversation.

Delbert looks around quickly and spots only the rifle propped up against the wall. "Well, I ah think so. Unless you have the pistol?"

She is quick to shoot him a scathing glare. "Don't mock me, Doctor-" Her acidic reply is cut short by another wave of pain that leaves her convulsing on the floor, her fingers clenching at the ground. She's getting worse, and Delbert doesn't need a medical degree to see that. Her once creamy ivory skin is now very nearly translucent and dotted with perspiration. Fever then, the delirium would likely be soon to follow.

Delbert can't recall a single point in his life where he has felt more out of place, or more useless.

His eyes wander the hideout, looking for anything that might be any kind of useful. The further back his eyes went, the more interesting the items became. A rocking horse sat in a corner, a cooking pot on it's head and a thick blanket on it's back. Finally, something. Getting to his feet, he navigates back towards the rocking horse, only tripping a few times in the increasingly low light. For his efforts, he firmly clutches a dark brown blanket in his hands as he walks back to the Captain.

"Doctor, what are you doing back there?"

"We might be in for a cold night." The blanket is set aside as Delbert kneels next to her. "How are you feeling?"

She blinks, then turns away. "I would certainly be faring better if you hadn't taken to asking stupid questions." He knows that she only means to be a little harsh, it's her nature and it's what he has had to put up with for months now.

"I'm only trying to help." Delbert mumbles, his mood going quickly sour.

On the ground, Amelia is quickly becoming more aware of the situation as the sedative wears off. The increasing pain in her side makes thinking nearly impossible as she tries to root out the quickest escape route. Most of the area is cast in shadow, and she narrows her eyes against the low light. Apart from the large opening through which they had come, there seems to be no other exit.

Wonderful.

They were trapped here for the time being, without any kind of supplies and at the mercy of a gang of pirates. The only other longboat, and any chance they had of survival was in the possession of Silver and his band of miscreants.

"Today just gets better and better," Amelia says aloud, drawing the attention of the Doctor.

"P-Pardon?" He looks confused. Why would he? She was only just discussing the situation with him, crowd sourcing any possible escape plan.

"We need to come up with a plan, Doctor."

Again his brows furrow and Amelia grunts in frustration. "I'm afraid I'm not following."

Deadpanning, she narrows her eyes at him. "Were you so busy staring at the walls that you couldn't listen to me?"

His brows shoot up into his hairline. "You weren't saying anything!" His outburst leaves her slumped against the rock in shock.

She was just thinking it all to herself. Shaking her head slightly to will away the cobwebs, she clears her throat. "We can't stay here indefinitely. They will starve us out before they move on to find what they are looking for." It's getting increasingly difficult to talk around the lump in her throat and the fire in her chest.

"Wouldn't it just be easier for them to come up here and just kill us?"

Amelia shakes her head before smiling in the direction of the large opening. "No, not necessarily. We have the advantageous position of being above ground from them."

Upon his blank look, she continues in minced, gasping words. "We have a rifle. We can wait until they make camp, then take them out one at a time."

Delbert has no idea what she is talking about, and it's getting harder to even hear her.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand!"

"Sniping!" It's the first thing the robot has said in quite a while, as if he is snapping out of a light doze. "The Captain is suggesting we shoot them when they go to bed. A bit dark for you, but a good plan. What if we run out of ammo?" Ben seems to speak everyone's thoughts, and the resulting silence is unsettling in the fading light.

The Captain is unresponsive in the late afternoon and the question remains unanswered. It isn't until Jim's heavy footfalls that her eyes crack open.

"Well, we're all gonna die." Jim runs a hand through his long brown hair and thumps down in the growing shadows.

"It didn't go well?"

Jim cracks a smile, explaining. "We said hi, insulted each other and then walked away." Jim picks up a stray rock, turning it over in his palm. "How's the Cap'n?"

Delbert shakes his head, re-adjusting his glasses. "Not good. She needs another dose of morphine to cut the pain." Delbert watches the teen pat his pockets before producing the needle they had used a while ago.

"How much of that stuff did you grab?" Jim walks over to the Captain, turning the syringe around in his fingers.

Checking his own pockets, Delbert comes up with a half empty phial of morphine and a handful of various one time use pills. "Not much. Some fever reducer and what looks like one more dose of what we used earlier."

Jim nods, sitting down beside the Captain. "Ma'am?" His hand carefully rests on her uninjured shoulder, hoping to wake her.

Slowly, Amelia swims through a thick fog to marginal awareness to find the cabin boy's hand on her shoulder.

"Hawkins?" Her brows furrow and she struggles to focus her eyes.

"We're going to give you some more medicine." It doesn't sound like a question, and Amelia feels more than a little distressed when he rolls up her sleeve.

"No." It's a firm command spoken in a weak voice, and Delbert wonders just how long they can keep this up. "We need to conserve our supplies. We don't know-" She stops, her breath coming in short gasps. "Need water. We won't last long up here without it."

Jim steals a glance towards the door, glancing out at a warm fire with a pot over it. The pirates had been successful in finding supplies for the night, he would be too.

"What if I could find some?"

The Captain shakes her head. "Gentlemen, we must stay together and-" Delbert watches her slump back against the rock, her energy flagging.

"And what? What? We must stay together and what?" Delbert's only being a little hysterical as he lowers his face to hers to better hear her. For all his worry, he finds her green eyes peering up at him softly and he feels momentarily relieved.

"Doctor? You have wonderful eyes." She's clearly lost her mind, and Delbert is quick to vocalize this as he sits back on his rump in the dirt.

Before Delbert knows what's going on, Jim has disappeared through a hole in the floor with the robot and Morph quickly on his tail.

And not for the first time that day, he finds himself alone with the severely injured Captain.

Outside, the moon is framed perfectly through the door, and Delbert is struck again by the unnatural beauty of the planet. It's a full, colorful moon orbiting above them, and if he squints, he can see the Legacy casting shadows on the luminary body.

Delbert gives a low whistle before turning his attentions to the shivering Navy Captain before him. Rapidly shifting eyes, dreaming. He at least knew that much, and he watched for the tell tale signs of nightmares.

Amelia shifts in her sleep, the moonlight making her pallid skin opalescent in the grotto. She looks peaceful in her sleep, like nothing is wrong at all.

In some ways, Delbert is envious of her. So able to just slip away and be free of the anxiety that he feels so keenly when he is alone. It's not like he is a nervous wreck all the time; only when his life is in danger. And if he was completely honest with himself, these kinds of situations were becoming more and more commonplace.

He was not comfortable at all with this little development in his life.

Cutting through the air like a hot knife, the Captain wakes instantly, bolting upright.

"Ah, Captain?" Delbert turns her chin to face him and finds glassy, green eyes that are still far, far away. In the span of a moment and taking the Doctor by complete surprise, she breaks. It's a small, guttural cry that opens the floodgates that Delbert is so, so under equipped to handle.

Her head finds his shoulder and she openly weeps in the moonlight. It's probably the first time in years that she has let her emotions loose, and Delbert knows that it's a product of the stress that she has no doubt been feeling.

And how could he blame her?

Digging out his handkerchief, he pulls back, wiping at the tear tracks on her face. "Do you want to talk about it?"

At first, it looks like she might refuse his offer, but he knows they are way past those kinds of games.

So, she opens up. She tells him about a rough childhood spent in constant fear of her drunken father, and in the protective shadow of a saint like mother. Amelia tells him about her three other siblings, and how she feels no end to the guilt of leaving home for academy.

Then, in another completely unexpected turn that the day had been full of, she tells of the night her mother was murdered.

_It's late at night when Paul Smollet returns home from the bar down the street. Recent years had seen an increase in his drinking habits, and no amount of pleading from his wife could make him relent. _

_Amelia loved staying up late. There was a magic in staring up at the stars from her bedroom window that drew her to sit up for hours at a time with a tiny camera in her hands and a blanket on her shoulders. _

"_Up late again, 'Mia?" Her mother shuffles in quietly behind her and kisses her forehead lovingly. _

_Tiny redheaded Amelia nods, her long red hair flinging wildly around her head. She is seven years old, and already knows what she wants to be when she grows up. "They're the same every night when I go to bed." _

"_Then they will be there again tomorrow night." Amelia's mother is quick to usher her out of the small rocking chair and into her bed. _

_It's a nightly routine they have, and it's well established. The lamp is clicked on a low setting and Amelia clambers into her mothers lap on her tiny, soft bed and a book is randomly selected from her mothers collection of classics. _

_Space faring books had always been her favorite, but tonight a book of poems is chosen. _

"_This book looks different from all the others." It's the first time they had read from it, and Rachael Smollet smiles fondly. _

"_I wrote these." The large, leatherbound book is cracked open across their laps and Amelia's small hands trace winding letters and margin decorations. _

_The pages fall away to a well creased place in the binding, and Rachael recognizes the poem well. _

"_The moon has a face, like a clock in the hall, she shines on thieves on the garden wall." Amelia's tiny voice begins on the poem, her words slow, but sure. _

"_On streets and fields and harbour quays, and birdies asleep in the fork of the trees." Rachael is careful to keep her voice quiet as she hears her husband stumble up the steps into their tiny house. _

_Paul Smollet stumbles into the house, fully expectant of the usual nightly routines that his youngest daughter so required. So tedious, that child was always so tedious. Her brothers had never been so. Quick to grow up, and accept responsibility, Amelia was not. _

_Tiny and full of questions that would unravel even the most long suffering of man, and Paul was running so low on patience these days. _

_And that wife of his did little good in indulging her the way she did. If Rachael wasn't filling her youngest daughters head with hopes and dreams of escaping her dreary fate as a factory worker, she was stonewalling him at night because he smelled like brandy and smoke. _

_And damnit if he wasn't just sick of it all. _

_Paul stomps up the stairs, his boots thundering on the staircase loud enough to alert the house to his presence. They would run, shrink back in the corner underneath their mother's protective wing. _

"_Rachael!" It's supposed to come out as a threatening growl, but even Paul can hear the drunken slur in his words. _

_Immediately, the bed in his youngest daughter's room squeaks loudly and he rounds the corner into her room. _

"_Paul," She's all apologetic tones and pleading eyes, and Paul is just so sick to death of it. _

"_No! No more of this shit, Rachael. You've always coddled her, told her that she could be whatever she wants to be. It's not true, and you know it." _

_Rachael takes his arm, hoping to diffuse the situation. "There's nothing wrong with that. Mia may have an actual chance out there!" _

_It happens in an instant, Paul's hand is around Rachael's throat as he presses her against the wall, rage flowing unchecked through his alcohol soaked veins. _

_Fingernails scrape at his skin, and her feet kick, but Paul doesn't relent. Not this time. _

_It's only after her neck snaps and she stops moving that Paul realizes the emotion he is feeling is regret._

Paul never sees his children again.

Amelia stops, her hand reaching under her shirt to pull out a gold chain, and a time worn locket hanging on the end. Delbert's eyes find a barren tree stamped into the brass on the front of the locket before she stuffs it back down her shirt.

"It was my mothers. After her death, it was found in her belongings when the house was packed up to be sold. By the time we got the box, I was the only one they could reach. My brothers, Toulouse and Berlioz, didn't want anything to do with it."

Like a sudden frost in spring, Amelia's ears perk up and she turns to the back of the room. Before either of them can move, the whole place is crawling with pirates from both ends.

"Isn't that nice, I knew you were sweet on her 'Doc. Good for you!" Silver is quick in his congratulating as he advances into the hideout.

The Captain is quick to rip the sling off and button up her coat. It would do them little good to know that she was injured.

"What do you want?" Delbert is trying his best to be brave, but he is rather afraid that his cowardice is showing through.

"Oh, you know what we want, Doc."

"Really? Enlighten us."

Silver sighs, looking over at Amelia. "You're in no shape to challenge us, lass. And I'm in no mood to humor you." Silver motions to his followers and Amelia feels a white hot spike of pain in her side as several pairs of hands force her to her knees.

The pair is bound roughly and tossed into a corner and Delbert can see Amelia struggling to gain a handle on the situation.

"I'll see you all hang for this, make no mistake." Her voice is low and rides on dangerous tones, to which Silver only laughs at, flopping down on the ground where she had been only moments ago.

"Silence them! We don't need them yelling when Jimbo gets back."

The night wears on, and Delbert looks out to the Legacy cresting on the clouds in low orbit.

It was all up to Jim now.


	5. Chapter 5

She should have never done this. Amelia didn't know how drunk she was in that tavern when she decided to accept the commission, but it had to have been pretty bad. This hadn't been the first time that brandy had led to poor decision making. Amelia remembers vaguely an incident in another tavern in the Arcturian system, just before the war, Arrow had discouraged her from entering to begin with. After a few glasses of brandy and some sexist comments later, she was roughly escorted out by a few bouncers.

The hot shower and bottle of wine waiting for her at the end of this god forsaken trip was going to be well worth the wait, and she casually thinks about charging more for the commissions she takes.

On the other hand, wine would only serve to perpetuate situations like this, and she didn't need any more close calls in her life.

"All my life I've been waiting for an adventure like this." Oh, perfect. This is just what she needs to add to her self loathing. "I'm just sorry I couldn't have been-" he stops, as if trying to decide his next words, "more helpful to you." He sounds resigned to the fate of dying on a beautiful alien world, and something changes in Amelia.

"Don't be daft, you've been very helpful. Truly." It's a quiet moment to be shared between the two of them, and Amelia's pinky finger finds his palm, rubbing discreet circles into his flesh.

"I just feel like such a useless weakling!" Amelia feels him shift, his back muscles rippling against her taut jacket and his hands leave her reach.

"-With abnormally thin wrists." It's a moment of self discovery, and a tip of the scales in their favor.

The discovery is hidden away from the pirates sight quickly and Amelia hears him call attention to himself.

"Yes you. I have a question..." Amelia listens in shock as Delbert begins to berate the pirate's small head. Brows furrow as his voice escalates and Amelia winces against the beating that he is probably about to get.

"-But before you do, I have one more question." _Ah_, the plan. Amelia hears the keen whistle of the plasma pistol long before it's audible and she smiles in satisfaction. He _had_ learned a thing or two.

Amelia plants her boot firmly into the flabby pirate beneath her, his head grinding on the bottom of the lifeboat.

"Well," the Doctor turns to her with a grin. "That went better than expected."

Before Amelia can admit that she is a little bit impressed, a commotion from the forest draws their attention.

"Guys!" Ben is at a dead run for the lifeboat. "Guys, the planet is going to blow, we need to get back up to the ship and pick up Jimmy."

There isn't time to ask why Jim stayed behind, or the fate of the other pirates as Ben scrambles aboard.

Nodding at him, the Captain takes the tiller into her capable hands and finds herself on another flight from death as large crevasses in the planet open up underneath the fleeing lifeboat.

Weeks ago, Delbert would have balked at a churning river of lava, but hot on the heels of another victory, he feels numb against the harsh, hot winds and vapors.

They board the Legacy quickly, and Amelia takes the wheel in shaking hands before she finds Delbert's large hands on her shoulder.

"You're in no condition." His tone leaves little room for argument and she backs away from the helm, nodding briefly.

"Don't wreck her."

Amelia takes a supervisory post against the mast behind the wheel and in an instant, the Legacy falls from orbit around the planet and soars towards the cliff side and a prism like doorway cutting into now sulfuric air. At a loss for words only partially due to the alien world erupting around her, Amelia sits down slowly, a grimace working it's way across her stress worn features.

Eventually, and after many close calls, The Legacy stops at the cliffs edge, and no sooner taking off after picking up only two more passengers.

The taste of metal burns in her nose and throat, and every jolting move the Legacy makes feels like another nail in her side.

A loud crack resounds from high up the mast column and the towering ivory sails fall into the deck, the wood splintering underneath the force of impact.

"Mizzen tail demobilized Captain. Engines running at thirty percent of capacity."

Amelia's brow wrinkles and she braces herself against the wood column, standing up to view the instrument panel.

"Thirty percent," The Doctor pauses, an ashen look washing over his face. "That means, we won't clear the planet's explosion in time."

This was it. Everything she had ever done in her whole life would lead up to her death on an unknown world in the farthest reaches of the known universe. Today just gets better and better.

"We need to turn around!" Jim hops onto the lower deck, grabbing a rocket and a piece of metal.

"What?"

"There's a portal back there, it can get us out in time." Jim busies himself with the make due solar surfer, clearly several steps ahead.

"Pardon me, Jim but doesn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?"

Jim shouts something about changing it before taking off on a mast-less surfer, shooting beneath the Legacy and back towards the large portal and the hellfire they had barely escaped.

Silver's eye finds hers, and in a moment of clear judgment, he yells "Listen to the boy!"

Considering their options doesn't take too much time. They didn't have anything to lose by going back, it wasn't like they had another option.

"Doctor head us back to the portal." She can't even believe she is saying this. But in the pattern that the rest of this voyage had taken, it is the only logical choice.

"Aye, Captain."

The following moments seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Delbert finds himself gripping the wheel for dear life as he steers away from the jutting pieces of burning planet, and every fiber of his being is telling him to turn back. He can't. Amelia is depending on him. Everyone on this ship is depending on him.

Amelia, the strong commander that he had met what seems like an eternity ago, depends on him.

He couldn't deny that he was enamored with the fact that a woman depended on him for anything, it had been so long. A part of him wonders if he can move on and find happiness again. Glancing to his side, the doubt is firmly laid to rest in the emerald eyes of the woman next to him/

Delbert can smell the calming, yet overpowering scent of Captain Amelia's perfume, and can feel her body keenly against him as she braces herself against the instrument panel. Her presence alone overrides any instinct to flee that he might still have. The feel of her body heat, her breath against his throat is enough to undo him, and it seems like such a small thing in the face of danger.

Ben's countdown ramps up in volume and Delbert winces against oncoming doom.

This near death experience wasn't like the one he had in college. He didn't see his life flashing in front of his eyes, or hear angels singing, or see any bright light other than the fiery hot lava coursing around the ship.

Blue, calm space opens up in front of him and the Legacy bursts through the interstellar doorway in an instant as fiery embers chase the battle scarred galleon through the midnight etherium.

Safe. They are safe. It takes a while to sink in as he grips the wheel in terror until his knuckles turn white.

It's a beautiful moment in the face of death, and everyone aboard is swept up in the victory. The resulting shock wave from the exploding planet drowns out the celebration, and it isn't until the familiar scent of parchment and buckwheat reaches the Captain's nose that she realizes who she is hugging.

Much to her surprise, when she pulls back she notes the very same look of apprehension coloring the Doctor's soft features. But slowly, she can feel herself relax and a wry smile breaks the tension between the two.

"You did very well." It's probably the first positive thing she has said to him in the three months they have known each other, and it doesn't feel forced on Amelia's part.

Delbert shines from her praise. "I had a good teacher."

The pair looks around at the chaos on the lower deck, and he can see the gears turning in her head as she descends the stairs.

The mizzen mast was completely obliterated, and part of the deck and rail had been taken out along with it. Just replacing the mast and sails would take at least a month, not to mention the scorch marks that mar every other surface, and the sails with meteor sized holes in them. She would be stuck in port for months just waiting for all the repair work to be done.

With all the damage, it would be amazing if they made it into port under their own power, operating at only thirty percent of total capacity.

Just as well, Amelia needed to find a new first officer anyway. It wasn't like she could just sail off on the next big thing, no matter how strong the urge was.

"Unorthodox," Amelia sets a hand loosely on Jim's shoulder "but ludicrously effective. I'd be proud to recommend you to the Interstellar Academy. They could use a man like you." It's completely true, and not something said lightly in the post rush of a brush with death. They had plenty of cadets who could salute and follow orders, but Hawkins wasn't one of them. He would be a trailblazer, and his rebel past wouldn't hurt his chances as much as one might think they would.

Amelia watches from the sidelines as Jim and Delbert enthuse over the tale they would have for Jim's mother, and she is brought back to her own first big voyage. Amelia sympathizes with the teenager in part because she feels like he's had to endure just as much as she has, and partly because she still feels the guilt over blaming him for her the death of her first officer.

Accidents happen, and the blame for his death rests squarely with the pirate crew in the holding cell underneath her.

A hand on her shoulder pulls her out of her thoughts and she looks up fondly at the Doctor before making a quiet excuse and slipping away.

It's the first moment she has gotten to herself with enough of a sound mind to address the chaos that has taken up residence in her personal life. In many ways, her current glass strewn and scorched stateroom bore a disturbing resemblance to her current state of affairs.

Amelia hates metaphors.

Scowling at the floor, she mince steps over the shards of glass to her desk. The chair is checked for glass before she sits down gingerly at first, then sinks back into the plush red leather. Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe the weariness that seems to soak right through to her bones like a chill. Taking a moment, the lights are shut off and she leans back, an arm draping over her eyes. Not a single pane of glass had escaped the supernova, and the bright light stemming from neighboring nebulae seems to be burrowing into her skull.

"Captain?" The lull is interrupted by the no longer bumbling Doctor Doppler and Amelia groans, waving her hand at the door.

"The door, Doctor." Her tone is low, biting through gritted teeth and betraying her weariness to the one person she no longer minds.

Delbert steps into her stateroom to find the lights off, and the Captain sprawled in her desk chair, one arm flung over her eyes. It's odd to see her so relaxed, but a part of him finds it endearing that she would trust him so implicitly.

"Am I ah- interrupting anything?" Delbert walks slowly into the room, his shoes crunching on broken glass.

Amelia gives him a withered look, but hasn't the energy for much more. "Was there something you needed?"

"We made contact with the constabulary at the spaceport. They will meet us at the docking bay." Delbert chooses to leave out the part where he also notified emergency services; she would be furious if she knew.

Amelia nods, sitting up slightly in her chair. "Very good, Doctor. How far are we from making port?"

"Thirty minutes or so, Captain."

The Captain gets to her feet, a shallow intake of breath accompanying the small effort. "We need to talk, you and I." She makes no effort to sugar coat anything as she perches on the edge of her desk.

"I'm afraid I remember everything that happened on the planet." A look that Delbert can't quite identify crosses her delicate features before disappearing underneath pursed lips and weary eyes. "I apologize for my behavior, as you can well imagine, I wasn't myself."

Delbert is quick to reassure her in gentle tones. "There's hardly anything to apologize for."

Amelia's lips turn up in a grateful smile, "You were a perfect gentleman. And I don't know what I can do to repay you for everything you did."

Delbert smiles, his hand traveling up her arm. "We will have plenty of time for that later."

"Quite right, Doctor." Her words lead to a closing of the conversation, but when her eyes find his, she can't tear herself away from him. The connection they had made on the planet was undeniable now, ever present in the soft glance that Amelia finds herself trapped in.

She's had her fair few suitors, but none of them made her stomach knot up and her throat go dry. It's maddening, to know that only a few months ago the very same man had infuriated her to wits end. But nothing about this is logical, and they both know it.

Time slows to a standstill around them as Amelia finds herself inching closer to him, her fingers winding through his.

A large hand comes up to cup the back of her head gently, much as it had only a day ago, and Amelia can't say that she hates it. "Wh- what now?" He's found his voice, though however small it may be.

For once, Amelia can't answer him. "I haven't the faintest idea, Doctor." Voice husky, her head tilts towards his, her pointed nose nuzzling his cheek.

Soft calico skin flushes under unsure, new emotions as her eyes slip closed in a moment of pure bliss.

When at last the final gap is closed between waiting lips, the result is nothing short of fantastic. Free of any kind of constraining moral code or a lengthy list of why this is a bad idea, the pair simply exists together in a moment of complete understanding.

It's a whole new side of her that he had never known existed. Dainty, soft lips move independent of her usually stern facade. A gloved hand sweeps over his tender ears, down his jawline and drags slowly over his throat.

The moment is shattered when the door opens, revealing none other than the cabin boy, bearing a gleefully wide smile.

"Well Doc it's about time!"

The pair pulls apart, Amelia fleeing to her tiny restroom, leaving the Doctor to handle what must be an awkward conversation.

"Jim, this had better be important." The stern reprimand flies quickly from red smudged lips and Delbert is quick to deflate in defeat. Delbert has gotten better at disciplining him, but his stern face falls when he notices barely restrained laughter.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Morph flies into the room, mimicking the Captain and the Doctor's face mashing that was seen only moments earlier, infuriating the already shy Doctor.

"We're almost docked and if you want anyone down there to take you seriously, you had better wipe the Captain's lipstick off your face." Jim is quick to slam the door behind him, effectively fleeing the scene.

Amelia saunters out from the bathroom, once again in control of herself and she gives him the same sly smirk she had when they first met.

"Go wash up, Doctor. I would hate for this little secret of ours to get out." Her tone is serious, but the spark in her eye says that they aren't done talking about this.

It's an interesting bit of symmetry that he is able to reflect on as he scrubs his face, and with the Captain's track record, his foolishness would likely be the one common thread in their entire relationship.

"Woof," he mutters, his face twisting into a sneer.

**AN: That's it for "Through the Forest"! The sequels "Solace" and "The Gardener" are up for your viewing pleasure, and can be found through my profile. Thank you for your support with this series, you guys are amazing! **


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